Paid Sick Days Access in the U.S.: Differences by Race/Ethnicity, Occupation, Earnings, and Work Schedule

IWPR #B328 March 2014

Paid sick days bring substantial benefits to employers, workers, families and communities.1 The economic and public health benefits of paid sick leave coverage include safer work environments;2 improved work life balance,3 reduced spread of contagion;4 and reduced health care costs.5 Access to this important benefit, however, is still too rare, and is unequally distributed across the U.S. population, with differences by race and ethnicity, occupation, earnings levels, and work schedules.

Utilizing data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), IWPR finds that in 2012, approximately 61 percent of workers age 18 and older in the U.S. had access to paid sick days6 (Figure 1); up from 57 percent in 2009.7 More than 41 million workers lack access. Hispanic workers are much less likely to have paid sick days than white, Asian or black workers. Less than half of Hispanic workers (47 percent) in the United States have access to paid sick days (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Access to Paid Sick Days by Race and Ethnicity 80% 70% 66% 61% 64% 62% 60% 55% 50% 47% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Percentage with Access to Paid Sick Days Days Sick Paid to Access with Percentage Total White, non- Black, non- Hispanic Asian, non- Other, non- Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic Race and Ethnicity

Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analysis of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Note: Access rates are calculated for individuals age 18 years and older that responded yes or no to the following question: Do you have paid sick leave on your main job or business? “Other race” category includes American Indian or Alaska natives, and individuals reporting multiple racial identities. None of these populations were individually large enough for separate analysis; all were kept in the interest of inclusion.

Access rates for male and female workers are 60 and 62 percent, respectively (Table 1). Among Hispanic and black workers, women are more likely than men to have access to paid sick days, which may relate to occupational distribution by sex.8 Sixty-four percent of black women are estimated to have access to paid sick days compared with 60 percent of men. The same pattern applies among Hispanic men and women, with 51 percent of women, compared with 45 percent of Hispanic men reporting access to sick leave.

Table 1. Access to Paid Sick Days by Sex, Race and Ethnicity With Access to Paid Sick Days Population Group Men Women Total Total 60% 62% 61% White, non-Hispanic 64% 63% 64% Black, non-Hispanic 60% 64% 62% Hispanic 45% 51% 47% Asian, non-Hispanic 66% 66% 66% Other, non-Hispanic 54% 57% 55% Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analysis of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Note: Access rates are calculated for individuals age 18 years and older that responded yes or no to the following question: Do you have paid sick leave on your main job or business? “Other race” category includes American Indian or Alaska natives, and individuals reporting multiple racial identities. None of these populations were individually large enough for separate analysis; all were kept in the interest of inclusion. Workers with annual personal earnings at or below $19,999 are less likely than workers with higher earnings to have paid sick days. Fewer than three out of ten workers (28 percent) in this earnings group are able to take a day off with pay when they are sick (Figure 2), whereas eight in ten workers earning $65,000 or more have access to paid sick days. Figure 2. Access to Paid Sick Days by Personal Earnings

$65,000+ 83%

$45,000-$64,999 77%

$35,000-$44,999 75%

$20,000-$34,999 59%

Annual Annual Personal Earnings $1-$19,999 28%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Percentage with Access to Paid Sick Days

Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analysis of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Access to paid sick days varies widely depending on the type of occupations employees hold. Across the broad spectrum of occupations in the United States, access to paid sick days varies from 87 percent for employees in Architecture and Engineering Occupations to only 20 percent for those employed in Farming, Fishing and Forestry Occupations (Figure 3).

Paid sick days are especially uncommon in certain jobs requiring frequent contact with the public, which has important public health implications. For example, less than a quarter (24 percent) of employees in Food Preparation and Serving Related occupations, and fewer than a third (31 percent) of workers in Personal Care and Service occupations has access to sick days with pay. One reason paid sick days access rates are especially low among Hispanic workers is because this group is overrepresented in occupations less likely to provide paid sick days.9

Figure 3. Access to Paid Sick Days by Occupation

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 20% Food Preparation and Serving Related 24% Personal Care and Service 31% Construction and Extraction 34% Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance 42% Sales and Related 48% Transportation and Material Moving 50% Production 52% Healthcare Support 59% Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 61% Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media 62% Office and Administrative Support 69% Education, Training, and Library 76% Occupation Community and Social Services 76% Protective Service 78% Legal 78% Business and Financial Operations 78% Management 78% Healthcare Practitioner and Technical 79% Life, Physical, and Social Science 81% Computer and Mathematical 84% Architecture and Engineering 87% Total 61% Percentage with Access to Paid Sick Days

Coverage is much greater among full-time than among part-time workers: While five in seven full-time workers have paid sick leave (70 percent), only about a quarter of those working between 20 and 34 hours per week (26 percent) have access to sick days with pay.

Figure 4. Access to Paid Sick Days by Hours Worked per Week 80% 70% 70% 61% 60% 50% 40%

Days Days 30% 26% 20% 10% 11% 10% 0% Percentage with Access to Paid SickPaid to Access with Percentage Under 10 hrs 10 to 19 hrs 20 to 34 hrs 35 hrs or more Total Hours Usually Worked per Week

Ensuring greater access to paid sick days for all workers, and especially low-wage, service workers, Hispanic workers, and part-time workers, would bring many public health and economic benefits for employers, families and communities.

Notes

1 Williams, Claudia, Susan Andrzejewski, and Jeffrey Hayes. 2013. Valuing Good Health in Newark: The Costs and Benefits of Earned Sick Time. IWPR Publication No. B324. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. (accessed February 28, 2014). 2 Lovell, Vicky. 2003. No Time to Be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers When Workers Don’t have Paid Sick Leave. IWPR Publication No. B242. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. (accessed February 27, 2014). 3 Heymann, Jody. 2000. The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families Are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It. New York: Basic Books. 4 Goetzel, Ron Z., Stacey R. Long, Ronald J. Ozminkowski, Kevin Hawkins, Shaohung Wang, and Wendy Lynch. 2004. “Health, Absence, Disability, and Presenteeism Cost Estimates of Certain Physical and Mental Health Conditions Affecting U.S. Employers.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 46 (April): 398-412. 5 Miller, Kevin, Claudia Williams, and Youngmin Yi. 2011. Paid Sick Days and Health: Cost Savings from Reduced Emergency Department Visits. IWPR Publication No. B301. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. (accessed February 28 2014). 6 This report provides data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The NHIS is a survey of 32,965 individuals, and can be analyzed by gender, race, and ethnicity. Another source for estimates of access to earned sick days is the National Compensation Survey (NCS), an employer-based survey that does not include data on the individual characteristics of covered employees. There is a small discrepancy between paid sick days access rates obtained from the NHIS and the NCS. According to the 2013 NCS, 65 percent of private sector workers were able to access this important benefit; while according to the 2012 NHIS, 61 percent of workers have access. Difference between these two surveys is due to collection methods, sample size, sample coverage, and data collection time frame. While the NCS is a payroll survey that does not have age restrictions, the NHIS is a household survey that asks about access to sick leave for adults age 18 years and older. Another reason for the discrepancy between the surveys might be that workers are unaware they have access to sick leave or fear that they cannot fully use it for fear of retaliation by their employers. For more information on paid sick leave access rates from the NCS please consult . 7 Williams, Claudia. 2011. Paid Sick Days Access Rates by Gender and Race and Ethnicity. IWPR Publication No. Q006. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. < http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/paid-sick-day-access-rates-by- gender-and-race-ethnicity-2010 8 Hegewisch, Ariane, Hannah Liepmann, and Jeff Hayes. 2010. Separate and Not Equal? Gender Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap. IWPR Publication No. C377. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. 9 Hegewisch, Ariane. 2013. The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation. IWPR Publication No. C350a. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

This Fact Sheet was prepared by Claudia Williams and Barbara Gault, Ph.D.

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The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groups to design, execute, and disseminate research that illuminates economic and social policy issues affecting women and their families, and to build a network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research. IWPR's work is supported by foundation grants, government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women's studies and public policy and public administration programs at The George Washington University.